Why is a "Fair Profit" no longer good enough? (credit card, lender)

[mpyne]

Originally Posted by crystalblue

In the olden days, so the legend goes, companies were happy with a fair profit.

Today, it seems like a company isnt happy unless they can Mr Krab you (for the unspongebob initiated, it means sucking every penny outta you!).

I recall reading somewhere that is actually illegal for a publicly traded company not to do everything they can to suck every cent from you.

Is this true? And if it is, is this really how we want it?

Wow so many hateful posts in this thread.
A lot of angry bitter right wingers in here.

Not sure if this is what you mean, but Henry Ford believed in paying his employees a good wage and in turn his employees could buy his product instead of treating your work force as the enemy. If businesses practiced this model they could still make a fair profit and there could be a strong middle class in our country.

Instead big business chooses slave labor without thinking about who's going to be able to afford their product.

[subsound]

Well, what is a "Fair" profit? Who is making that basis of "Fair"?

You ask most consumers, what is fair is just enough to keep the company running...as little as possible to keep the cost they pay down to a minimum (I have seen some that want it even lower). The company wants to maximize it to whatever they can get away with, to pay themselves, expand, and pay the shareholders. Those two sections meet. People don't have to deal with a company that charges too high of a price, they can either walk away or walk to a competitor. Companies don't have to sell to anyone that won't pay the price, no matter how much they complain, because the only thing they would be doing is bankrupting themselves to benefit strangers.

The problem goes into thinking in many cases. Most companies are demanded to have earnings increase every quarter, which is easy when it is small but much harder when it is big. Consumers want the price to go down as products or business plans mature with competition, but they don't care about the floor price. If they could get away with it, each would do whatever maximizes their benefit...not doing what is right.

It's not illegal to not to try and "suck every cent" from consumers, but I have never seen one company that operates at a loss do it for the benefit of the person operating it at a loss...which is illegal in many ways depending on how they structure the scam.

[8 SNAKE]

Originally Posted by mpyne

Wow so many hateful posts in this thread.
A lot of angry bitter right wingers in here.

Not sure if this is what you mean, but Henry Ford believed in paying his employees a good wage and in turn his employees could buy his product instead of treating your work force as the enemy. If businesses practiced this model they could still make a fair profit and there could be a strong middle class in our country.

Instead big business chooses slave labor without thinking about who's going to be able to afford their product.

Stereotype much?

Why don't you back up that statement of "big business choosing slave labor" with some actual facts? Then go on to substantiate the second part by showing how "big business" is actually going out of business because no one can afford their products. I will look forward to your reply...

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by mpyne

Instead big business chooses slave labor without thinking about who's going to be able to afford their product.

Very broad statement and not very intelligent. Most companies pay their employees what they can afford to pay and you have the right to say "I quit" and go find you something that pays better.

The 1 thing that regulates business and is good for us all is the magic word "Competition". That is what keeps companies from gouging the public. The US Govt has done away with a lot of the competition in todays world by allowing mergers.

If you don't like what you are paid, get more education and become worth more in the open market.

[treasurekidd]

Many libs today are trying to vilify companies that make a profit. Profit is the reason companies exist and are able to provide jobs.

Obama and socialist agenda says profit is evil. (Unless you give it all to them)

At last, SOMEONE who gets it. You are 100% correct.

[texdav]

The poast was full of locally owned stores that charged high prices because they keepout competition. Full retail was the rule then.In fact in amny cases the company p[eople worked for owned the local grocery store. I beleive this is what happened to the US auto industry really. They had a cornered market and just thought they could sale whatever they made.The unions thought of the company as the fat cow that would never stop giving milk. They neveer thought of what anything they were doing was doing to the company and future sales. The consumer came last.They said the same things in the 70's they are saying now but this time they have gotten to a possition that they will be a much smaller part of teh overall auto inductry. Especially with not just the japanese but korean and coming chinese models.I guess you could say that everyone is gredy as we see in teh healthcare debate where everyone wants to shift the cost of reform to someone else.

[Shizzles]

Capitalism has always been about channeling human greed into a constructive outlet. Like Jack Welsh said, profit is not evil. What you're seeing today isn't the result of "profit" but a complete breakdown of ethics, which is something that has been occuring beyond the buisness sector and is a general reflection of the decline of western society in general.

[nimmysnv]

Originally Posted by Rakin

Many libs today are trying to vilify companies that make a profit. Profit is the reason companies exist and are able to provide jobs.

Obama and socialist agenda says profit is evil. (Unless you give it all to them)

Hi Rakin,

This is the point what I was think of and so written here in a big way but you explained it so well.

Thanks buddy!!

[mpyne]

Originally Posted by 8 SNAKE

Stereotype much?

Why don't you back up that statement of "big business choosing slave labor" with some actual facts? Then go on to substantiate the second part by showing how "big business" is actually going out of business because no one can afford their products. I will look forward to your reply...

Well Ill use China as an example. Why does big business send work over there. This country was built on slave labor
They arent going out of business because in many cases credit is used to purchase goods.

[mpyne]

Originally Posted by Rakin

Very broad statement and not very intelligent. Most companies pay their employees what they can afford to pay and you have the right to say "I quit" and go find you something that pays better.

The 1 thing that regulates business and is good for us all is the magic word "Competition". That is what keeps companies from gouging the public. The US Govt has done away with a lot of the competition in todays world by allowing mergers.

If you don't like what you are paid, get more education and become worth more in the open market.

Companies pay the very least they can. With globalization the cost is getting lower and lower. Yes you can quit so what youre competing with people who will work for 1/10 of what Americans make.

Yes competition is good on a level playing field. If our cost of living was on par with China we could compete on productivity but thats not the case.

So education creates jobs? Thats interesting? How so?